Day 6 - Winnie Lake

Today, our spirit was up because it's the 1st day since beginning of this trip that the sun greeted us in the morning. I can't say the same for the night before, freezing. Jeffrey's spirit is up, but it's hard to tell since at times he doesn't want to do anything on his own. I have to task it out if I want it done. I guess I'm expecting too much for a 16 yr old. I don't remember of me being that lazy when I was 16. Enough about me complaining. Today was a rough day, we paddled the first 2.5 hour and covered 10 miles of river. Then we hit lake Winnie and it took us over 5 hour to cover 14 miles across the lake. I guess I should count my blessing. If I had paddled this lake last week, I would be facing 4 feet roller which make canoeing thru it impossible. Anyway, I'll add more detail later as I'm too darn sleepy right now.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.430106,-94.048445+(LakeWinnieDam)
longitude: -94.048445
latitude: 47.430106




- Posted from my iPhone

Day 5 - Knutson dam rec area

The day started pretty grim, but once we put into the water, the weather became gorgeous. We ran into our first dam and we have to portage it. We saw a couple if bald eagles, hawks, loon, and heron. Jeffrey got mad when I try to correct his paddling, complaining that he does most of the paddling work. "OK, if you say so, Jeffrey!" We spent a good amount of time passing Lake Cass. We stopped at a pretty camp site which worked out well since we have to portage at this site anyway. Got on at 9am, got off at 6pm, and did 20 miles. Ended with a gorgeous evening.

I http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.450446,-94.484181+(Knutson)
longitude: -94.484181
latitude: 47.450446




- Posted from my iPhone

Day 4: The Most Northern point and Stump lake site

Day 4: 5-29-12 did our resupply today, all they have in this town is the little Co-Op store with too much health food and not enough food variety. We ended up not putting in until 4:00 pm so we were only able to do about 9.5 miles. It rained all day until we arrived to our site. We did pass the most northern point of the Mississippi River. Our moral hit a low as we both wished we were home in our warm bed. It's in the 40s degree today follow by 33 degree tonight with possible chance of frost. But I guess in a few days when the weather goes back into the 60s, we'll forget how bad it was. Today was the first time I've heard a loon howl and boy, I didn't expect that kind of sound from that thing. Tomorrow we will try to make up the miles that we didn't do today. So, I gotta hit the sack early.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.493341,-94.751184+(Stomp lake)
longitude: -94.751184
latitude: 47.493341





- Posted from my iPhone

Day 3: Bemidji

Got on the river by 9am today and the weather was gorgeous. To my surprise when we took a lunch break at 11am, we had made 9 miles. The day ended with us stopping into Bemidji after 24 miles of paddling. We wanted to re-supply, but it's memorial day weekend, all the stores are closed. We'll re-supply tomorrow. We also got very lucky when we got to town, one of the private marina let us camp at their yard.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.470517,-94.878916+(Bemidji)
longitude: -94.878916
latitude: 47.470517










- Posted from my iPhone

Day 2 - pine point

Day 2, 5-27-12 did 21 miles today. Got on the river at 10am and made camp at 4:30.
Rain in the morning, had to pack up in the rain, now my tent has the smell of dew. Had a few moment of doubt as we got lost in more maze of bog. No sun in sight until we made camp.

currently location:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.427913,-95.069912+(Pinepoint)
longitude: -95.069912
latitude: 47.427913




- Posted while on the move

Day 1 - coffee pot campsite

After having dropped off at the Headwaters, Lake Itasca, we paddled to the first covert, then we began to truly load the boat. Didn't take off till 11am after our goodbye. I wondered if we could get to our campsite 17 miles away before dark. The river has sections like the buffalo river where we hike more than paddle and just one portage. Then it follows by a endless maze of bog. We finally made it to camp at 7pm. The weather was gorgeous and to my surprise, Jeffrey was a total trooper and had put in his fair share of the work. Well time to sleep. Looks like it may rain tonight.
-coffee pot camp
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.349767,-95.183233+(MyPosition)
longitude: -95.183233
latitude: 47.349767







- Posted from my iPhone

Stuff to haul.

Some people ask what kind of stuff do I need for a 3 months trip. My answer is always, as much stuff as you can bare to throw away. :) You don't need a lot, but you always wish for more. Here's pretty much what I will haul down the river. The personal bag contain our individual hammock, clothes, personal hygiene, personal electronic, etc.
The thing that is not in here is a giant cooler for beer and a ukulele. Those are optional of course.




- Posted from my iPhone

Planning the route

I promise to myself that for the next few day, I will be as lazy as possible. I figure it's my chance to enjoy the simple life to it's fullest. That means waking up at noon, do nothing but sipping my cup of joe and having ice cream for lunch. With nothing to do, I decided to glance over the maps for the trip and here's my well thought out plan:
- It's between 2300 - 2400 miles of paddling
- I give myself 3 months to do it, but Jeffrey schedule will force me to aim to finish this trip in 2 months and 1 week
- I will paddle 75 miles north before turning east, then south.
- I will most likely hit the twin cities in 3 weeks
- I will most likely hit Memphis in 6 weeks, which put me around July 7.
Of course, all of this planing doesn't mean much because you pretty go as fast as the river lets you to. :)




- Posted from my iPhone

All preparation done.

Today pretty much mark a mile stone in my trip. That is, all the preparation in the world doesn't mean squat unless you have the boat to go down the river with. I finally may a decision on the boat, so much choices, so much compromise, but ultimately, the boat of choice is the Wenonah Escape. It (17'6") is the shorter version of the Wenonah Minisota II (18'6"). It is not as fast as the Minisota, but I guess I can live with that. Two more weeks and counting. :